Reader response: River Bank Run a 'celebration'

In the Fifth Third River Bank Run special section that ran in Sunday's edition of The Grand Rapids Press, I asked readers to e-mail me their race stories since I went ahead and shared mine.

So far, I've received exactly one e-mail. (Oh, how the crush of popularity weighs on me.)

Fear not, faithful readers. (Hi, mom!) If you have a wild, wacky, hilarious, inspiration or even mundane running story, feel free to shoot me an e-mail and I'll share your experience with the world.

Until then, enjoy this worthy entry:

"You asked for funny/entertaining stories of readers' 25K experience. My story is neither, but it touches on something you mentioned in your article. You wondered if time mattered.

My husband and I lived in Memphis, Tenn., for 8 1/2 years, so yesterday was my first 25K since 2001 or 2002 (can't remember). I have a vague idea of my PR and had a finish time in mind based on the Striders 10-mile race that I did a few weeks ago. Very quickly into (Saturday's) race I was making some adjustments to my finish time. I finished in a time like you described -- not my best and not my worst. At first I was bummed, feeling a little sorry for myself, and saying, 'The hills, the rain, etc.'

Then I realized that yesterday's race was one big celebration that I could run. Thirteen months ago, we finally had our first child. One month later, my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Five months later, we left Memphis to return to West Michigan so we could be closer to dad. Then my mom was diagnosed with cancer. This was followed promptly by my father-in-law's diagnosis of another brain tumor. And we were audited by the IRS. And our house in Memphis still hasn't sold.

I'm not making all this up. But my guess is that you would have found some similar stories of woe among (Saturday's) runners.

The run was a celebration because I've survived one big endurance race called 'life' the past 13 months. The race T-shirts are emblazoned with 'I run for _____.' I've run for my sanity and, by the grace of God, I've won.

So, to answer your rhetorical question, time mostly doesn't matter to me. Training, racing, and worrying about times and PRs are a distraction from the junk in my life, but in the end I'm grateful for a way to cope and escape that isn't especially harmful to my body.

And, in the big picture, when you've had the type of year that I've had, rain and hills aren't that big of deal. They simply add some flavor to racing stories we'll tell in the future."